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Sawakeedah! You can count me among the fortunate who have visited Thailand.

In 2007, I took a whirlwind trip to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, with a side visit to Myanmar. It’s a long way to go and it’s not for the faint-hearted, especially when you start out with a 3-hour delayed departure in Fort Lauderdale. Then, a 5 hour flight to LA, a 15 or 17- hour flight to Hong Kong and I think a 2-hour flight to Bangkok. I’ve since blotted the actual timeline from my mind — so that I’d remain open to traveling in Asia again. Because it is sooo worth it! But, like my visits to Turkey, it was both a taste and tease. I long to go back. Continue Reading

One month has passed since I returned from Thailand, my digitally printed album of photos was ready to share, and I wanted to practice what I learned in Thai “Cookery” School before I forgot. Aside from the food, what lingered most with me was the ambience (the flowers in Bangkok in particular) so I tried to create a serene Thai mood with the table setting and the lemongrass scented chilled hand towels provided for the guests.

I created the same menu from the cooking school — the soup, the noodles, and the chicken and eggplant green curry — with a few embellishments and a few omissions. For embellishment, I added a small amount of ground pork to the otherwise vegetarian noodle dish and omitted the requisite 4-alarm fire from the chili peppers. One receipe called for 20 chiles in a serving for 4!! Various chili sauces and pastes were on the table for those who wanted to kick it up a notch.

I also added a couple of straight vegetable dishes. I made a carrot, brocoli, chive slaw which I topped with sliced mango and dressed with a wasabi-honey vinaigrette. I served this after the soup with a platter of steamed pork dumplings. I also accompanied the 2 entrees with some simply sauteed pea pods.

Thai cooking is very interesting — lots of ingredients and a fair amount of prep work — but once you get to the stove, every course is cooked in less than 5 minutes. Talk about cooking on all burners!

Dessert was really simple since I purchased everything from an Asian market. In Thailand we were treated to a smorgasboard of after dinner treats – mostly odd connoctions, like kidney beans or gelatinous substances made from beans or vegetables often topped with sweet syrups. I found 5 different varieties to serve. Pumpkin custard was the hands down favorite and I think we were split on the second position – it was either the bean curd paste or the syrupy taro balls.

FOODalogue is ….

The FOODalogue Approach to Food

A perfect meal has multiple levels of flavor and textures, bright colors and tastes, and healthy(ish) choices. It's all about enjoyment. Enjoy the process, the presentation and the just rewards...eating!

I've always been a culinary improvisor which means I get my kicks out of recipe development. In the FOODalogue kitchen each meal is an adventure and the journey is as exciting as the destination. My favorite kitchen tools are imagination and intuition. I rarely look at a recipe, not even my own!

On these pages, I suggest food pairings and techniques to be experimented with...in your own kitchen...to your own spice levels...and to your preferred portion sizes.